Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch called on Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen to abandon the agency’s effort to broaden a new rule applying to political nonprofits, warning in a letter sent Monday that the move could further undermine confidence in the IRS following the uproar over its targeting of Tea Party groups for additional scrutiny.
“The IRS is just beginning to recover its reputation, and your agency is just beginning to regain trust from lawmakers,” Hatch wrote to Koskinen. “Do not throw all of that away in a quixotic and bizarre mission to regulate the political activity of Americans.”
Hatch said Congress will “have no choice” but to investigate the agency’s motivations if it issues the rules, claiming that it would be viewed as an act of political bias. He asked Koskinen to preserve all communications related to the rulemaking, in case the Obama White House or Treasury Department is playing a role in shaping it.
Koskinen said in March that his agency might expand the rule to cover tax-exempt organizations known as “527” groups in addition to 501(c)(4)s to maintain fairness among political organizations.
“You are starting down a very dangerous road,” Hatch warned in his letter.
The IRS has been under intense criticism since 2013, when it revealed that certain Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status had been subjected to added scrutiny.
Hatch said in his letter that the IRS already faces “seemingly insurmountable” obstacles carrying out its regular duties, including the implementation of Obamacare.
